The state is still trying to determine whether reintroducing sauger, a fish like a walleye that lived in Lake Erie and local rivers, is feasible. / Courtesy of Ohio Department of Natural Resources

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PORT CLINTON — DNA likely will be the key to finding out whether a sport fish that disappeared from Lake Erie and local rivers at least 60 years ago could make a comeback.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, has been looking at the feasibility of bringing back the sauger, a fish similar to Lake Erie’s prized walleye that died out because of overfishing and habitat loss.

The agency tried to reestablish sauger in Lake Erie in the 1970s, but the effort wasn’t successful, said Jeff Tyson, ODNR Lake Erie fish management program administrator.

“We’re essentially going back and doing the same thing, but trying to cross off some of those reasons why it didn’t take,” he said.

For three years, the agency stocked sauger taken from the Missouri River in Lake Erie. Those fish stayed in the lake until the last ones were found in the 1980s.

That’s where the DNA comes in.

ODNR believes a population of sauger that has similar DNA to the ones that once lived in Lake Erie would the best type of sauger to introduce to the lake and rivers.

Fish with similar genetics likely would have a better chance of adapting and surviving in Lake Erie, Tyson said.

The Missouri River fish used in the ’70s came from a different climate and habitat and may not have been able to adjust to Lake Erie, he said.

ODNR is working with the U.S. Geological Survey in Ann Arbor, Mich., to test various populations of sauger. Stocks officials are considering are Lake Ontario sauger from the St. Lawrence Seaway, Ohio River sauger and fish from a lake in Minnesota.

The Lake Ontario sauger are the only known population of the fish in the Great Lakes, Tyson said.

“Hopefully, in the next year, we’ll have an idea,” he said.

“We’ve got a number of questions we need to answer first to determine if it would be feasible.”

One of those questions is whether there is enough habitat left to support the sauger. They are mostly a river fish, although they also lived in the lake, and had populations on the Sandusky, Portage, Touissant and Maumee Rivers.

Another question is how long ODNR would need to stock the fish in order to get a good breeding population.

“We’re looking to establish a self-sustaining population,” he said. “We’re not interested in long-term stocking.”

Restoring the native sauger population would have multiple benefits.

As a native predator in the lake and rivers’ ecosystems, it would help balance to the food chain, Tyson said. Like walleye, sauger eat small fish like emerald shiners and gizzard shad.

Sauger were once a popular game fish. They don’t get as big as walleye, but they have similar appeal to anglers.

Walleye can reach 36 inches. Sauger usually grow up to 15 inches, but can reach 24.

“It would provide another opportunity for recreational fishing,” Tyson said. “It would be a near-shore opportunity.”

Rick Unger, who runs Chief’s Charters out of Marblehead and is a past president of the Lake Erie Charter Boat Association, said he would fish for sauger if he could. He’d like to see them returned to Lake Erie, if doing so is possible.